Leeds ‘puppy’ stranger sparks warning

A Leeds dad is warning parents of a strange man he claims tried to lure his 13-year-old daughter into a car by saying he was “selling puppies”.

Garry Holt, a painter and decorator, says a man of Asian appearance who was driving a silver car approached his daughter Olivia near Allerton Grange School on Monday between 3.30pm and 4pm.

The 48-year-old claims the man asked his daughter if she wanted to buy any puppies, saying they were in the back of the car, and after she said no, the man got out of his car and started following her. He turned back and got into his car after she left the main road.

West Yorkshire Police were notified of what they are treating as a “suspicious incident” on Larkhill Road at around 4.50pm that day.

Mr Holt said: “She is really upset. It took 35 minutes for my ex-partner, her mother, to get out of her what has gone on.

“I just want other parents to know so they are aware of it. It really is upsetting, I can’t believe it, especially on this estate.

“I have grown up on that estate, it has got slightly worse over the years but it has always been alright, not somewhere something like this would happen.”

A West Yorkshire Police spokesman confirmed that the local Neighbourhood Policing Team is aware of the report and has stepped up patrols in the area.